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Developer Plans for Economy Redux

Apr 23, 2020 TheRedSpy link
Hello everyone.

Incarnate indicated on one of his recent posts that the developer focus was turning towards gameplay changes that could impact the game in the shorter term. Does anyone have any information on what the stated developer agenda is for these changes?

The Economy Redux, i.e. finishing the Latos N-2 project and rolling out to stations universe-wide would be one of the best ways to stimulate activity in the short term.

I know it might seem odd that the hell-bent war-mongering Serco nationalist is suggesting that changes to the economy are the best thing for the game (arguably a trader update). However, there is a significant relationship between where things are available to buy, and where players choose to travel.

Currently, there is a hard-coded oversupply of everything in the 'verse that is needed. Ultimately, to stimulate conflict, there needs to be scarcity - be it situational or just overall scarcity - of things that people want.

Does anyone know what the shorter-term goals are on the Latos N-2 project? Is it on developer's radar?
Apr 23, 2020 Barktooth link
Is English your second language? If so, you are very fluent.
Apr 23, 2020 krazyxcdriver link
Dude a over supply? When was the last time you ran a trade route? A year ago? Currently routes are tanked meaning no money to be made at all. Or are you one of those trillion ares that have nothing better to do than complain and get stuff nerfed to make it harder so you feel like you messed over the little guy for giggles?
Apr 23, 2020 Whistler link
If you would like to have information on the developer's agenda for game play changes, you should ask the developers rather than rely on others for that.

If you would like to make suggestions, you should do that in the Suggestions forum.

[/edit I was apparently confused by the statement "I know it might seem odd that the hell-bent war-mongering Serco nationalist is suggesting that changes to the economy are the best thing for the game (arguably a trader update)." I am informed below that this was definitely NOT a suggestion.]

You have no idea whether there is a hard coded oversupply of everything.
Apr 23, 2020 krazyxcdriver link
Instead of asking to devs to work on nerfing current things ask them to add more to the game like the capella for players or some new things. More content is needed now to get and retain new players rather than nerfing old stuff continously. The biggest complaint I hear from newbs outside of complaints about rats? Not enough variety in game.
Apr 23, 2020 Pandoram link
Another suggestion to make the remaining player base quit the game.

Only a single station in the whole universe map is selling commodities & stuff- players still have to load and move the items everywhere for manufacturing.

(Note - i will still play and got multiple capships but think from a newbie view , they already call capship building hard & impossible.)

Trade Routes are not giving good profits
Lmines are useless now ( farming became little hard )

You want them to mine every single ore for their build now ?
And i bet some players will boil roids to 100k later so they can't mine either.
Apr 23, 2020 TheRedSpy link
Um yeah, thanks for your advice Whistler - the idea is that the developers can chime in if they have time, not to spam their forums with questions to them.

krazyxcdriver - as to your question on trade routes, the 'current routes are tanked' comment is precisely the point. They are tanked meaning the buy price is low. The buy price is low because of the hard-coded over supply. The simplistic economic model in place responds to supply, but there is no opposite force that reduces spply, creating demand. This is because there is no scarcity.

There are economics websites that will teach you about these simple concepts. Just let me know if you want me to give you some links, happy to educate.

English is my first language.

Also, just to be clear for Pandoram and Whistler - this is not a suggestion. I have just been here long enough to understand the developer roadmap, including the original plans for the economy redux, which saw Latos N-2 converted to test these changes. As far as I am aware, they are planned to be included irrespective of player discussions - so it's not a suggestion post.

I am seeking to understand if further info has been published on the economy redux since that I have missed.
Apr 24, 2020 incarnate link
TRS: No, I don't think I've posted anything in-depth about the economic goals.
Apr 24, 2020 Inevitable link
I just want to comment on Pandoram's comment :(Note - i will still play and got multiple capships but think from a newbie view , they already call capship building hard & impossible.)"

You've been around long enough to know that building a cap ship is easier than it has ever been. Which is why mostly everyone but new players have them. Which I am not against as capship battles have become fun thanks to buffs to the capital swarm and some new weapons. However, in my biased point of view, I haven't heard a new player call it impossible and new players shouldn't be immediately trying to build cap ships anyway.
Apr 24, 2020 Pandoram link
You hardly helped anyone in their build boda , i heard multiple players both from with in TGFT and from some others guilds who wanted to buy goliath kit but couldn't trade and make good profits anymore.

If devs implement this , some People will just boil roids next or camp Mining sectors. Some people already got alts docked in latos n2 already which keeps buying the useful stuff for build.

But well it's upto inc ,he knows the stuff better then anyone , so i'm not gonna argue more & let devs decide what is good for the game.

Take Care
Apr 24, 2020 incarnate link
Construction of a Trident was intended to be a high-level "endgame" goal, requiring 3-6 months of time investment by a single advanced player, or perhaps a bit less for someone with support from a large guild. Goliaths were obviously intended to be a bit easier, but still challenging, high-level goal.

There's a tendency for humans to organize and optimize everything into an "economy of scale", and make things more efficient. The degree of success there is not always easy for me to predict, as a designer, because people will discover un-intended workarounds (like mass-killing of NPCs with lightning mines) to economize their efforts, and I have to then find ways to correct them, which are sometimes pretty complex to implement (we've spent a lot of time on AI).

So, changes have been made, and will continue to be made, that will alter the supply chain. But, much like the real world, where supply chains have to adapt and change due to evolving conditions, so will the game.

The only certainty in life is change, and that is also true of Vendetta Online.

Anyway, if people have specific goals for what they would like to see in an economic change, and points to support those goals, that should go into a Suggestions forum thread.

This thread was supposedly just created to ask if I had already posted anything about our economic plans. And, while I have referenced the topic in the last few Newsletters (particularly around all the Analytics stuff we added over the winter, to help me monitor the economy), I haven't written many specifics, as I mentioned above.

Since I already answered the question that was ostensibly why this thread existed, I'm locking it.